NORTHAMPTON – The City Council is scheduled to take the first step towards making official a plan that has been in the works for months Thursday when it votes on an ordinance to merge the Historical Commission and the Historic District Commission.

The practical benefit of the merger will be to conserve staffing for the two commissions, which many feel are redundant. The Historic District Commission is concerned almost entirely with overseeing historical and architectural detail in the Elm Street neighborhood. The Historical Commission performs a similar function for all of Northampton, including oversight of the demolition delay ordinance, which can delay the razing of a historically significant building for up to a year.

Both commissioners have already signed off on the merger. The council is scheduled to take a first reading of the ordinance Thursday. It can complete the merger if it takes a second vote in favor of it at a subsequent meeting.

A major pending matter for the Historic District Commission has been the proposed inclusion of the Round Hill Road neighborhood in the Elm Street Historic District. That was proposed to give historical protection to buildings on the Clarke Schools for Speech and Hearing campus that were slated to be sold to OPAL Real Estate.

Clarke did not necessarily want the designation if its deal with OPAL fell through because it would have made the property more difficult to sell to another buyer. The $4.8 million sale went through in April, however, after the state granted OPAL tax credits for preserving the historical and architectural significance of the 11 buildings involved. The conditions of the tax credits are more stringent than those of being within the Elm Street district.

The Historical Commission and the Historic District Commission have both approved Round Hill’s inclusion in the Elm Street district, and the matter is now up to the City Council for ultimate approval.

Currently, there are five members in each of the commissions. According to Carolyn Misch, the city’s senior land use planner, no member will lose a place on the combined board, but the number of members will eventually shrink to seven. The positions are appointed by the mayor with the approval of the City Council.